Adrienne Giordano - The Detective

They reached the conference room, where a huge whiteboard smothered with notes and charts covered one wall. His sister had been busy. She’d also done a fine job of organizing her evidence.

She gestured to the wall. “I have it all laid out for you. Just the way Dad taught us.”

He wandered to the board and glanced at Jenna’s notes. Victim’s name, Jonathan Williams. Scene of the crime, brownstone on the cushy North Side. Cause of death, gunshot to the head.

“Crime-scene photos?”

“No. I was hoping you or Dad could help with that.”

Not if he wanted to stay under the radar he couldn’t. “I’ll talk to Dad. Tell me again how you got this case.”

“It’s kind of convoluted.”

“It always is, Jenna.”

“Remember how I worked on Brent’s mom’s murder case a few months back?”

How could a guy forget Brent, the giant deputy US marshal who had stolen his sister’s heart and managed to convince her she didn’t need to walk around half-naked for people to notice her? Brent had enough baggage to fill a 747 jet and Jenna had still fallen in love with him. If nothing else, it showed a boy could overcome a rotten childhood and grow into an honorable man.

“So this has to do with Brent?”

“No. Mrs. Hennings. She was the one who convinced my boss to take on Brent’s case. She’s at it again with this one.”

Did someone say convoluted ? “Oooookay.”

“Mrs. Hennings attended a social function and ran into a decorator she knows.”

Brodey gawked. A decorator ? This should be good.

Jenna held her hand up before he could crack wise. “The decorator was hired by a real-estate agency to stage the house of the murder victim. The house has been on the market for two years and they’re about to drop the price. Before they did that, the victim’s estranged wife—they were separated, but not yet divorced—wanted to try redecorating it. I suppose when a house is worth close to two million hiring a decorator isn’t an issue.”

Brodey let out a low whistle. “I’ll say. Why am I here?”

“The decorator told Mrs. Hennings about the house, and here we are.”

“What do you get out of it?”

“My boss’s undying gratitude for keeping him out of trouble with his wife.”

Brodey laughed. One thing about Jenna, she knew how to stay on a man’s good side. He pointed to the board. “Whatcha got?”

“You may remember this case. He was a stockbroker living the good life until the market crashed. For years he’d basically been running a Ponzi scheme with his clients’ money. His marriage fell apart and he was drowning in debt. The FBI eventually caught up to him and he was under investigation.”

“He was murdered before the Feds charged him, right? Is that the guy?”

“Yes. On the day his body was found, he didn’t show up for a meeting with his biggest client. That was unusual so his firm called his wife. Apparently he hadn’t updated his emergency contact at the office so her cell phone was the only number they had.”

“Ah, damn. Don’t tell me the ex found him.”

Jenna nodded. “In the laundry room.”

Poor woman. Brodey still hadn’t gotten used to viewing murder victims’ bodies, inhaling that nasty metallic odor of blood and trying to remain unaffected. Forget about a loved one. That? No way.

Refusing to give in to his thoughts, Brodey stood, arms folded, studying the board. “I think I remember this. Looked like a robbery gone bad, right?”

“Yes. In the two years since the murder, the widow has spent most of the insurance money settling their debts, but she’s not in the clear yet. It’s a mess. With the divorce pending, the finances hadn’t been worked out. The house was paid off, but she can’t unload it and needs the cash.”

“Enter our illustrious decorator.”

Jenna gave him a snarky grin. “You’re so smart.”

Whatever, wisenheimer. “The house is empty?”

“Yes. Why?”

He waved at the board. “No photos. I don’t know what you want me to do without seeing the crime scene.”

His sister should have known he’d need photos or some kind of visual. Or maybe that was just the way his mind worked. Needing to see how the crime occurred, run the scenarios, figure the timing and options. All of it helped him work a case.

“I wasn’t sure how involved you wanted to be.”

Outside of being bored out of his skull, he didn’t want to be involved. He’d made detective only a year ago and wasn’t about to aggravate his boss by poking around in another guy’s case. This case wasn’t even his jurisdiction. This belonged to the North Side guys, while he worked Area Central.

“Yeah, but I can’t help you if I don’t know what I’m dealing with. Take me to the house. I’ll walk through it and then study what you have here. Then I’ll tell you what I think, and I’m out.”

Tops, he was looking at two days of research. Two days of not being bored. Two days of getting closer to the end of his disability leave.

All he had to do was pony up an opinion and send his little sister on her way.

Piece of cake.

Chapter Two

Lexi stood in the expansive living room of the Williamses’ brownstone studying carpet that made her think of dirty snow. Such an abomination. What were they thinking putting that disgusting carpet in this house? Given the budget constraints, she’d have to keep it simple, but she could, without a doubt, restore the house to its classic elegance. Flooring she’d splurge on because the situation begged for hardwood. Everywhere else she’d do subtle but warm paint colors and effective accents with doorknobs, handrails and fixtures.

“Every inch of this carpet has to come up,” she said to Nate, the contractor she’d chosen for this job. “I’m betting there’s hardwood underneath.”

And, if it could be salvaged, it would help her budget.

Nate made notes on his clipboard as they wandered through the house. She liked Nate. They’d worked together on several projects, and although he was closing in on fifty, he had the mind of a thirty-year-old. When he did a renovation, he saw youth and exuberance, and his attention to detail and superior craftsmanship made him her go-to guy on important projects.

She moved through the kitchen—again with the dirty snow? This time it was on the walls. She had nothing against light beige. Neutrals with the right texture and undertones—wisps of green, yellow or orange—gave a room dimension. Depth. This beige?

Awful.

“We’ll be repainting in here.”

“Just tell me what colors.”

“Let’s do that soft gray we did in the Wileys’ kitchen. We’ll add color splashes to brighten it up. It’ll be fabulous with the natural light.”

“Got it.”

The laundry room off the kitchen came next, and she hesitated at the doorway. Did Nate know a man had been murdered in here? The real-estate agent had assured Lexi the scene had been sanitized, but what made her nervous, made that little twitch in her cheek fire, was what had seeped beneath the tile. When they tore up that floor, would they find dried blood?

Lexi reached in and groped along the wall for the light switch. Where are you? Got it. The room, roughly ten by ten, lit up, its glossy white walls glowing. A built-in closet with shelves and coat hooks and storage bins lined one wall. The opposite wall housed the washer and dryer.

How odd that the only room not needing updating was the one room she’d been directed to completely redesign.

Then again, a dead body tended to destroy positive energy. She glanced at the floor, imagined Jonathan Williams sprawled across the slate-look porcelain and closed her eyes, hoping to clear that nasty image. A dead body definitely killed creativity. Ditch the body. She opened her eyes again. “I’d like to know what’s under the tile. It’s a shame they want this redone. With all the traffic that comes through here, porcelain is perfect.” She waggled her fingers. “Give me your hammer. Please.”